Clothes hanger carrier

ABSTRACT

This is a clothes hanger carrier unit having a handle portion with resilient flanges extending therefrom. A holding member around which garment hanger hooks may be engaged is provided between the flanges. An adjusting nut permits the flanges to be drawn together to tightly grip the garment hanger hooks to prevent their disengagement from the carrier.

United States Patent Fisher [54] CLOTHES HANGER CARRIER [72] inventor: William M. Fisher, Burlingame l-lill,

Calif.

[73] Assignee: Atlantic Merchandising Company,

San Francisco, Calif.

[22] Filed: Oct. 12, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 80,088

[52] US. Cl. ..224/45 T, 294/ 16 [51] Int. Cl ..A45c 13/26 [58] Field of Search.224/50, 42.45 A, 45 T, 42.46 A,

[56] References Cited V UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/1971 Yorty ..224/45T [451 Dec. 12, 1972 5/1971 Good ..224/45T 8/1967 Koellisch a ..224/45R Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-Jerold M. Forsberg Attorney-Townsend and Townsend [5 7] ABSTRACT This is a clothes hanger carrier unit having a handle portion with resilient flanges extending therefrom. A holding member around which garment hanger hooks may be engaged is provided between the flanges. An

adjusting nut permits the flanges to be drawn together to tightly grip the garment hanger hooks to prevent their disengagement from the carrier.

1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDUEU 12 1912 INV TOR WILLIAM M. Fl HER BY T MW ATTORNEYS CLOTHES HANGER CARRIER This invention relates to portable clothes carriers and, more particularly, to a portable carrier unit which will permit the comfortable carrying of clothes hanger bags of the kind often carried on aircraft.

Portable clothes bags, that is, soft-sided clothing bags within which clothing may be hung have become extremely popular for travelers and for particularly travelers on aircraft. The clothes bag may carry several articles of clothing and thus become fairly weighty. The clothes bag generally has a single hanger hook at the top or may be arranged so that the several hooks of hangers inside the bag protrude through the top thus necessitating carrying several hooks with the fingers. Whether there is a single hook or a plurality of hooks protruding from the bag makes little difference since, in either case, it is extremely uncomfortable if not actually painful for a heavy clothes bag to be carried any distance on two or three fingers.

There has .not been, to my knowledge, any simple solution to the problem of easy carrying of such portable clothes bags as have been described the long distances in airports. I know of only one device which has capability for use in a manner similar to that of the present invention; it is shown and described in US. Pat. No. 2,746,661. The primary usefulness of that invention is that the portable clothes hanger holder may be inserted in the window of an automobile. The handle portion of that invention may apparently be used for the carrying of portable clothes bags although that design includes a plurality of apertures within which the books of conventional clothes hangers may be inserted and the handle then used to carry the clothes on individual hangers directly suspended from the apertures in the unit.

The present invention, in contrast to the prior art, comprises a simple carrier unit having a handle portion at one end for gripping and having a pair of spaced apart resilient members extending from the handle with a hanger hook engaging member therebetween. The clothes hanger carrier unit includes screw adjusting means for moving the resilient members together in order to grip the clothes hanger hooks between the resilient members. Thus, the clothes hanger hook engaged between the resilient members cannot easily become disengaged thus permitting the clothes bag or the clothes to fall from the carrier unit.

In the drawing: a

FIG. 1 is a front view of the clothes hanger carrier unit of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the unit in partial section; and

FIG. 3 shows how agarment bag may easily be carried on the unit.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing in which the same numerals refer to identical parts in each of the several views, the carrier unit of the present invention is shown generally at 10. The carrier unit comprises a handle 12 having a pair of resilient flanges 14 extending therefrom. The handle 12 is formed with gripping surfaces 16 to accommodate the fingers conveniently within the opening 18 between the handle 12 and the flanges 14.

A large diameter screw 20 is mounted on the inside of one of the resilient flanges 14 and extends between the flan es and to the opposite flange to serve as a hanger ook engaging member. A threaded nut 22 IS captured within a hole 24 in the resilient flange opposite the one on which the screw 20 is mounted. When the nut is turned on the screw the two flanges 14 are drawn together thus closing up the space 26 between the resilient flanges. v

The operation of the carrier unit is extremely simple. The hook of a portable clothes bag or a number of hooks of clothes hangers are slipped in between resilient flanges 14 and engaged over the screw 20 which then will act as a holding member. The nut 22 is turned until the resilient flanges are drawn together to tightly grip the hook or hooks therebetween. The hantile 12 is then gripped with fingers and carried over ones shoulder to conveniently and comfortably carry even a heavy clothes bag onto an aircraft.

While one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it will be obvious that other adaptations and modifications can be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A clothes hanger carrier comprising a unitary garment hanger carrying member having a hand opening adjacent one end thereof forming handle means, said member having a central slot at the opposite end thereof, the plane of said slot being perpendicular to the axis of the hand opening, said] slot forming flange members extending from the handle for accepting clothes hanger hooks therebetween, a clothes hanger hook retaining element normal to and between the flanges for engaging said hooks, said element comprising a threaded post rigidly mounted on one of the flanges and normal thereto, the other flange having a bore therein concentric to the threaded post, and including a threaded nut mounted in the bore and threadedly engaged on the post for compressing clothes hanger hooks engaged with the retaining element by moving the flanges toward each other. 

1. A clothes hanger carrier comprising a unitary garment hanger carrying member having a hand opening adjacent one end thereof forming handle means, said member having a central slot at the opposite end thereof, the plane of said slot being perpendicular to the axis of the hand opening, said slot forming flange members extending from the handle for accepting clothes hanger hooks therebetween, a clothes hanger hook retaining element normal to and between the flanges for engaging said hooks, said element comprising a threaded post rigidly mounted on one of the flanges and normal thereto, the other flange having a bore therein concentric to the threaded post, and including a threaded nut mounted in the bore and threadedly engaged on the post for compressing clothes hanger hooks engaged with the retaining element by moving the flanges toward each other. 